"Rockin' in the Suburbs," By Pete Freedman, June 11
Fake Music
Emo music doesn't count. As far as I'm concerned, those bands don't even exist. I don't care how much money they make or which celebrities are their friends...any music that is marketed to teenagers as a "product" is fake and should be disregarded by everyone above the age of 16.
Mikey, via dallasobserver.com
From a business perspective, the move to Garland from Plano doesn't make sense to me. The money, "bought cool at the mall" kids and parents-as-a-car-service are in the Plano area. Product and venue may be great. However, in America, distribution is still key to bringing customers in. They might as well be taking the kids to Addison, which, by the way, has better freeway access to its attractions.
Singe from Plano, via dallasobserver.com
"Buzz," by Patrick Williams, June 11
NY State of Mind
I relocated to Dallas two years ago from Philadelphia, and I've enjoyed our arts district immensely. I can't wait for the Winspear and Wyly to open in October. The idea that Dallas is becoming a world-class destination for those who appreciate the arts must pique the effete Northeasterners who regard anything west of the Hudson as a cultural wasteland. And we'll gladly take all the money those oilmen want to spend on the arts.
Ron Sivo from Dallas, via dallasobserver.com
"Sand? What Sand," by Jim Schutze, June 11
Sucked down
Stability problems in the area have been a concern for a long time. When the county first started building the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in the early 1980s, they did soil testing and thought piers only had to go down about 100 feet. Once construction started, they realized they had made a mistake and that the piers had to go almost twice as deep if the center was to be structurally sound. It is, after all, a river bottom and has been such for a long, long time. And this particular river has moved around over the centuries and was once notorious for flooding up to a mile wide in the spring, before the levees were built.
Gshultz from Dallas, via dallasobserver.com
This project has been nothing but a decade-long, complexly choreographed scam to benefit a few at the expense (and lives) of many. Accountability can be spread very thin with so many city councils and factions of state and federal government involved, all betting that the 100-year flood doesn't happen on their watch; and there is too much money to be made by engineering studies, consultants, renderings and models...say, about $249 million.
This project is dead. Ironically, the efforts made by others to kill it—Angela Hunt, Ned Fritz and a host of others—have not been able to do what the project has done to itself, sucked down by its own self-generated quicksand.
And as for the Calatrava Bridge, assemble it along the length and above Young Street parallel to City Hall. It will be a great reminder to all those elected officials and management staff that there is plenty of quicksand in the Trinity.
As Mayor Leppert's forehead slips below the sand—shall we gather at the river?
Harold from Richardson, via dallasobserver.com
The French Fourierists, or at least their leader, Victor Considerant, also thought the Trinity banks would be good for wine production, seeing all the massive native grapevines around. But all they got was snakes and pestilence. The river also let them down by not being navigable, so Dallas' first upright piano had to be hauled in via ox.
The Trinity has a way of bringing out the optimistic huckster in everyone, apparently. I mean, except for Jim Schutze, who may want to check out a booklet by his local spiritual ancestor, Augustin Savardin. "Un Naufrage au Texas" is the sarcastic title. "Shipwreck in Texas."
Julia B. from St. Paul, via dallasobserver.com
Matthew 7:26: "But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand."
Threefour from Fort Worth, via dallasobserver.com
